Obviously, the 8- 9- and 14-year-old students in our program -- and even alumni -- are growing up in a vastly different world from the one African-Americans navigated in the 1960s and before. But in browsing our YouTube channel and in looking at past press clips, I found quite a few powerful performances by DC SCORES students about civil rights.

The students clearly know their history, understand their place in it, and also are aware that there's still plenty of progress to be made today.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., here's a standout Poetry Slam! performance from Arts and Technology Academy two years ago.